Hope For Romanian Infant Born Without Intestines

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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)-Baby Andrei has confounded doctors just by being alive: The tiny boy with twig-thin limbs was given just days to live when he was born with almost no intestines-eight months ago.
Now there's a glimmer of hope for another miracle.

but then again, for him to have survived sev'l months beyond anyones expectations, and to be so alert...
suggests that he may very well be a viable candidate for this surgery.
it doesn't seem that anything extraordinary has been done, that attributes to his being alive and "kicking".
maybe there is hope, and this is a miracle in the making.

The two posts prior to this one are polar opposites of each other.
Both are right.
I even agree with both, though I definitely lean in one direction over the other.
It's why I love this site. It's like arguing with a friend over coffee.

sadly, more than the child, i was struck by this quote in the article:
"

the bribery culture in romanian hospitals is so ingrained that nurses expect bribes just to change sheets. surgeons can get hundreds of euros (dollars) and upward for an operation, while anesthetists get roughly a third of that."

but, without knowing more, i'm somewhat more in agreement with the 2nd post. the kid has survived this long, and while not necessarily 'thriving', the surgery could possibly cure him and allow him to develop into a more normal and healthy kid. sure, he'll have pills to take forever. i just wonder how much of an effect his likely malnutrition has had on his brain development. would be sad if there's damage that could have been prevented with an earlier surgery.

From what one has heard/read the "bribe" thing is not limited to Romania but is common in many places, some you wouldn't expect.

Greece comes to mind where there is or at least was a vast "under the table" economy where pretty much everyone wanted their taste before doing their job, and that included government and healthcare workers.

The US military is having a huge problem along the same lines in the brand new hospitals built for Afghan soilders and such. Families have to pay for everything from meds, to clean linen to food. Physicans and others in charge divert vast amounts of supplies including meds. Mind you *ALL* this including wages are paid for via American (tax) dollars.